Crooke is gone: Solidigm needs a new CEO

Following SK Hynix’s acquisition of Intel’s SSD and NAND businesses, leadership remained unchanged and Intel’s Robert “Rob” Crooke became CEO of the newly formed Solidigm subsidiary. Now, surprisingly, Crooke is gone and a new CEO has yet to be found.

a sudden exit

So far, the reason for Crooke’s departure is not publicly known. At the moment, it is unknown if the separation was at the request of the former CEO or the parent company SK Hynix. What blocks and files he claims to have learned from his own source that the departure was very sudden and without warning. The employees are only with the official announcement reported in October that “rob just left“, It was said.

SK Hynix seeks new CEO for subsidiary

Now SK Hynix is ​​looking for a new CEO for the Solidigm subsidiary. SK Hynix co-CEO Noh-Jung Kwak will take over the helm on an interim basis. Investment banker Woody Young also became president of Solidigm yesterday. fixed.

That there could be internal differences over Crooke’s intended separation of Solidigm (Intel floating gate architecture) and SK Hynix (charge trap flash) NAND technologies, as blocks and files assume is pure speculation. The recently released Solidigm P44 Pro was the first SSD from this brand, using both the controller and NAND memory from parent company SK Hynix instead of older Intel technology.

It may be that a strategic difference over Solidigm’s technological independence from SK hynix and capital spending contributed to Crooke’s departure, however this is just speculation.

Chris Mellor, Blocks and Files

At the Flash Memory Summit 2022, Rob Crooke presented the prototype of an SSD with a new type of PLC NAND with 5 bits per memory cell. Intel’s floating gate architecture, now owned by Solidigm, is predestined for PLCs. All other manufacturers, on the other hand, continue to rely on the charge trap flash (CTF) principle, including SK Hynix.

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